One Year, 100 Albums: #79 Catch 22 - Dinosaur Sounds

Catch 22 Dinosaur Sounds, 2003

If I'm writing about Catch 22, I should be writing about Keasbey Nights. It's another one of those things where, if I had been placing bets on which album of theirs I would pick for this list, I would have lost.

The thing is, this album combines the raw "we're just a simple ska band" feel of Keasbey Nights with the "look at what great musicians/songwriters we are" feel of Alone in a Crowd and I think that's the combination that draws me into it.

I'm not going to go into the fact that the singer of this band is different than the singer of this band for at least of of those aforementioned albums (Keasbey Nights. The dude left and started Streetlight Manifesto. You should also check them out.) because that's not what I'm thinking about when I'm listening to this album.

This album is endlessly singalongable (...I was recently complimented on the improvement of my writing on these blog posts and THIS is what I write?) and that includes the horn and drum parts.

At times, I feel like I'm in a basement punk show ("Regression") and other times I feel like I've stumbled upon lost singles from Chess or Stax (Warning: Possible Hyperbole alert) because the songs are so classic feeling ("Good Times", "Chin Up")

But most of all, I'm sad when the album is over and I often will just hit play again and dive back into the comfort of these songs that I know so well. Actually, that's a quality shared by all of the albums on this list. They're comforting, broken-in pillows that are always their own specific kind of comforting. But that's WAY too long a title for the list.

There aren't any music videos for songs from this album, that I could find. If you can find one that's good quality, let me know and I'll amend the post!

Catch 22 - Regression
Catch 22 - Good Times
Catch 22 - Chin Up

You can buy Dinosaur Sounds at Amazon, Amazon MP3, and iTunes

Brackets

Ok. So NCAA Basketball March Madness is pretty much over now, but I decided I wanted to try something related to tournament brackets. The classic rock station that we occasionally listen to at work is having a battle of the bands with this tournament bracket and everything. So that's what I'd like to do too.

I'm a part of this website called Last.fm that keeps track of music that I listen to on my iPod or computer. And so, using the chart that it has for the Artists I've listened to most, I have made up a bracket of my own. It's really neat, but I don't think you get to see it yet. First, I'm going to gauge the interest in this endeavour with something of a pre-tournament set of match-ups. There are some positions on the bracket that are ties (basically, I've listened to two or more artists the same number of times) and so we're going to pick who gets those positions right now.


RULES FOR SAMPLE SONGS (Pre-tournament and Round 1):

For the first two contests, I will be posting songs from the contestants' most recent LP (not including greatest hits, live, or B-sides collections) that I own. Round 2 will have a different set of rules.


Oh, and the winner of the whole thing will have an entire post devoted to them including a playlist created by yours truly that you can download and burn to a CD in memory of the time we've spent together! Awww.

OK. So here are the pre-tournament match-ups and their sample songs:

1. Fall Out Boy vs. Sufjan Stevens
Fall Out Boy - You're Crashing, But You're No Wave from Infinity on High
Sufjan Stevens - Decatur, or, Round of Applause For Your Stepmother! from Come On Feel the Illinoise

2. Outkast vs. Blink-182
Outkast - Idlewild Blue (Don't Chu Worry 'Bout Me) from Idlewild
Blink-182 - Easy Target from Blink-182

3. Coheed and Cambria vs. Catch-22 vs. Taking Back Sunday
Coheed and Cambria - Feathers from Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV: Volume 2: No World For Tomorrow
Catch-22 - So Cold from Dinosaur Sounds
Taking Back Sunday - My Blue Heaven from Louder Now

4. Jack Johnson vs. Sublime
Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static from Sleep Through the Static
Sublime - Jailhouse from Sublime

5. Alanis Morissette vs. MxPx
Alanis Morissette - Everything from So-Called Chaos
MxPx - Well Adjusted from Before Everything and After

6. Ben Folds vs. The Get Up Kids vs. Foo Fighters (Now, that's Ben Folds (solo) not Ben Folds Five)
Ben Folds - You to Thank from Songs For Silverman
The Get Up Kids - Martyr Me from Guilt Show
Foo Fighters - Let It Die from Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace

7. Descendents vs. Linkin Park vs. No Use For a Name
Descendents - I Won't Let Me from Everything Sucks
Linkin Park - Given Up from Minutes to Midnight
No Use For a Name - Bullets from Keep Them Confused


So, take a listen if you don't know the artist, leave a comment with your votes and I guess the voting will close at like 11 pm EST on Monday. Thanks in advance for participating!